Speaking Terms
by ThatGirlIsabel
Summary: Nate and Elena, Chloe and a donkey. But not weird like it sounds.


Okay so maybe it's a little weird. I'm not really sure where this one came from but my husband actually thought up the "better be your belt buckle" line heh. Everyone but the donkey is owned by Naughty Dog/SCEA and I'll put them back when I'm done I promise.

* * *

Nathan and Elena were having a disagreement.

Not their usual bickering, which came with an inherent danger of getting reeled into (and was amusing at best and only mildly annoying at worst), but an actual fight, and when things got this nasty her input was not sought by either party. As a woman she almost felt obligated to back Elena in this instance, except that as far as Mrs. Drake was concerned, Chloe was the _other_ woman, and to his credit Nate was at least smart enough to know that actively enlisting his ex against his wife would only make things worse. So they left her out of it, thank goodness.

It began shortly after killing the cult leaders and routing the rest but before finding their way out of the ruins, and over something she wasn't even clear on to begin with. One minute everything was fine and the next they were practically at each other's throat, although words were the only weapons involved and she had so far not been required to keep them from coming to blows, only to persistently fake a sudden and increasingly awkward hearing impairment while they squabbled back and forth. Elena's anger ultimately boiled over and she exploded at her husband in a savage froth, working herself up so badly her voice broke and she suffered a coughing fit that left her with watering eyes and a faint, lingering wheeze on every deep breath. Nate looked as though he wanted to say something but in the end kept his jaw tightly clenched to the point that Chloe almost expected to hear his teeth crumbling from the pressure, and once she'd recovered Elena fell silent as well, having screeched herself out of a voice. Or maybe she was just tired of yelling at someone who didn't care to yell back.

The clearing where they were meeting Sully for their ride home was at least four days out, depending on the terrain and if they made decent time on foot. Chloe resigned herself to her fate, wishing she had remembered to bring the headset for her phone so there might be something pleasant to listen to along the way.

Normally when they dragged her into it she was more than happy to incite additional drama by taking sides, typically his unless he had also been stupid to her recently, or if Elena's opinion was especially valid. The suspicious confusion in those blue eyes was never less than hilarious in that case and topped only by the deer-in-the-headlights response Nate displayed at having two women united against him. Chloe lived for those moments, taking absurd delight in the entertainment provided by setting them against each other and watching tempers flare up and cool off again. But those little spats tended to be over quickly and without any lasting harm, which was part of what made them so fun; there was no sport in a serious fight. It would be best to let them settle things on their own, however with no quick escape this time all she could hope for was to make it through the next few days without getting caught in the crossfire.

She was not entirely convinced of escaping unscathed since they were using her as buffer where the path was wide enough to walk abreast, staying to either side and matching their pace to her own so that any accidental shoulder bumping would occur between neutral territories. They picked their way eastward along an old game trail, the quiet broken only by footfalls, steady breathing, and the creak and squeak of leather behind them. It wasn't very long before boredom got the better of her and she thought it might be funny to manipulate their speed one way or another, just to see how much they really wanted to keep her between them. But her experiment was spoiled when the stupid donkey kept going and bumped her with his head after she stopped to almost knock her over. Even that hardly got a reaction.

Wild asses were everywhere on the island, from the barren coastal flats to the forest surrounding the ruins and all the way inland where Sully was picking them up. She had seen a few llamas and a pack of feral hogs, but the donkeys dominated. The cultists kept a score of them stabled for working their fields, and after the initial firefight this one had boldly walked right up to the three of them with a bedroll, packsaddle and a dead man laid across his back. He still carried the bedroll, as well as all the provisions they could find before leaving the ruins well behind them. As the sun blazed orange between the trees and they stopped to make camp, their donkey exchanged _haws_ of greeting with the wild ones watching from the depths of the forest. _At least someone__'__s finally talking_, Chloe mused as she loosened the girth and hobbled his forelegs so he could forage without going too far.

They had not been selective when loading the packsaddle, indiscriminately grabbing water, weapons, ammo and anything that looked edible at the start of the argument. Chloe had joked that it would be like a treasure hunt when they looked through everything later, in an effort to change the subject and lighten the mood, but that had not gone over especially well since the treasure both they and the cultists were after had been a big fat lie and they were leaving empty-handed as ever. Their consolation prize tonight was a ratty gray backpack stuffed with bottled water, a deck of cards, half of a squashed pack of cigarettes and most of a bottle of whiskey if they felt like entertaining themselves, plus a package of beef jerky and a busted set of binoculars that rattled inside when shaken. A second pack yielded a box of crackers, a few tins of sardines and about a half dozen overripe apples, mealy and soft but oh so sweet. Nate contented himself with jerky while she picked at the little fish inside their can and Elena sat sullen beside her, still too angry to give in to hunger until Chloe offered her an apple and a tin of her own to make her come sniffing for more. They ate in silence as the last daylight faded and a thousand stars came out to the tune of as many crickets. A campfire and a fat game bird or one of those wild pigs roasted up crisp would have been even better, but if the smoke didn't attract attention the shot definitely would, and anybody who had made it out of the ruins with them was no one they needed attention from.

After they'd had their fill and packed in the rest so as not to attract scavengers, Nate left them briefly to take a leak and while he was gone Elena found the deck of cards and made herself comfortable on the edge of the rutted trail where the moon was bright, fully invested in a game of solitaire by the time he came back. He glared testily in her direction for a long moment and when she made an effort to ignore that he _hmphed_ and grumbled something under his breath. As he turned away Elena demanded hoarsely, "What?!"

"I wasn't even talking to you, not everything is about _you_," he barked back at her. Elena bristled, ready for another round, and Chloe gave Nate a questioning glance only to get "Wasn't talking to you, either!" in return. He left them to figure out guard duty on their own, plopping down without another word and tucking the backpack under his head to settle into a position that only looked good for waking up with a full body cramp. The card in Elena's right hand was bent all to hell, knuckles tight around the deck in her left.

_Well!_ Somewhere in the woods Chloe thought she heard the yip and yowl of distant coyotes, and much closer the whisper of paper as the crumpled card was flattened out. She messed with the binoculars to try and figure out what that rattle was, giving up when she couldn't make them work well enough to be useful, and doodled on the dusty ground until her stick snapped in the middle of what she thought was a pretty decent attempt at an owl; the feet were still funky but eh. She stood and stretched until she was dizzy, had a good long yawn, and saw that she'd smudged her owl when she had gotten up. _Fuck_. Elena lay black on red on black without looking up but still managed to take the hint. "I've got it, go on," she said in a ragged voice, and Chloe did not protest.

The donkey sure did when she went after the bedroll, jerking awake and cocking a hind leg to kick in case she were to wander within range. She came away with no more bruises than before to unfurl a spongy foam pad and a bundle of blankets. The air was mild enough to not even need most of that and there weren't any mosquitoes out, which was always nice. It was a good night for sleeping under the open sky. Chloe situated herself on top of the bundle with her gun nearby and watched a cluster of fireflies until they became blurry and hard to tell from the stars. As her eyes drifted shut she thought it was nice that at least one of them would be sleeping comfortably, two if you counted the donkey.

A few hours later she traded her comfort for playing cards when Elena woke her with a tentative shake of the shoulder and begged her to take next watch. It was spent uneventfully, other than asking herself why she had given in, and then it was Nate's turn. He sat up stiffly and gave her a miserable look as she went to bed beside his woman, which was funny considering the face Elena made upon waking and how quick she was to accommodate once she saw who wanted to join her. As if she was really going to use that lumpy old backpack for a pillow when there was something soft and cozy to share. Besides, she had no quarrel with Elena. Not today, anyway.

The happy lack of snoring, kicking or crowding in her sleep meant that was still true when morning arrived, and they loaded up the donkey and continued on their way east as day broke over the land. All still unspoken, but it was too early for words anyway so she didn't really mind. Chloe enjoyed the benefit of a pair of tinted gun range glasses while Elena had forgotten hers and Nate's had been punched off of his face and broken the day before yesterday, so they both went squinting into the sun. In the thick of the woods the air was heavy with the mixed aroma of dead leaves and fallen evergreen needles that squished beneath foot and hoof, even well after the sun reached its apex and made the day grow warmer (not as warm as yesterday, she would have said had they resorted to discussing the weather by now). Her mind wandered lazily until stumbling for lack of attentiveness made her push her shades up and decide she'd had enough peace and quiet, and along with that realization came the one that none of them had eaten yet. A few moments spent poking through their supplies scored a full canteen of what smelled like coconut water, also a little baggie of dried fruit and nuts and the rest of the jerky, and it seemed to be appreciated even if nobody said so out loud. Arguing came easier on an empty stomach, so the simple fact that they could share food without throwing it at one another or maintaining the lie of a lost appetite was a good sign that everything would be back to normal soon enough.

But when the canteen was dry and all the good bits were gone, tempers had still not improved. The closest they had come to exchanging words was when the last of the coconut water was offered up before Nate finished it, and a few hearty sneezes as they came to the end of the game trail and had to cut through a patch of clover, stirring up pollen with every step. As their shadows lengthened in the purpling light she was beginning to think that maybe the weather wouldn't be such a bad subject after all, not an especially meaningful dialogue but at least it was _something_ to talk about, although her intentions would be stupidly obvious and might make them less likely to indulge her conversational desires. Spectating was still preferable to getting an outright earful from both sides, so suggesting that they just get over it already was definitely not an option either.

When she put the baggie away she found a wedge of cheese and a sausage wrapped up in paper and tucked into the front pocket of a green sweatshirt that was mostly clean and only slightly oversized. The cheese was oily and soft, but still good even if half the sausage had turned, and paired well with what was left of the crackers when they stopped for the night. Chloe was unpacking the whiskey to try her luck at negotiating peace talks when she heard Nate snoring from where he sat hunched against a tree. Elena looked bored and irritated as she shuffled her cards. _Wonder how long they can keep this game up,_ she thought, and untied the bedroll instead.

During her time awake, Chloe was kept busy listening to wild animals coming for the spoiled meat she had tossed into the brush. What type she could not tell by ear, but whatever it was did not seem to concern the donkey so Chloe did not let it concern her, and eventually the anonymous wildlife disappeared into the night with their prize. After rousing Nate for third watch she dreamt all three of them were raccoons chasing after a sausage with a moldy moustache, and then she and Elena woke prematurely and puffy-eyed to the crowing of a wild rooster accompanied by the raucous braying of their donkey.

The bird thankfully shut up after awhile but the other did not even as he was being saddled and led away from the spot, and they trudged through darkness and early morning fog with the pack animal calling to his wild cousins, mournfully, insistently, _loudly_. Yesterday and the day before they had been followed at a cautious distance by a handful of wild donkeys, but they must have lost interest and gone their own way, leaving the desperate cries unanswered. Nate and Elena were apparently getting as practiced at selective hearing as she was, keeping their reactions limited to the occasional wince whenever the animal hit a particularly shrill octave, and checking over their shoulder more often than before in case of pursuers drawn by the sound. Since it was probably only a matter of time before things got ugly again and one of them snapped and took it upon themselves to put the creature out of its misery Chloe considered their onboard supplies, judging what they could leave behind and what could be split between them (and planned on calling dibs on the bedroll since it looked to weigh the least), but when she was about to suggest setting him free the donkey suddenly quieted on his own. He paced at the end of the rope without so much as a sigh, and his defeated silence was even worse than the noise somehow. She could not blame the poor dumb beast for being lonely.

"I had a dream last night that Sully turned into a sausage," she said at last, fishing for a laugh, a smile, anything at all to break the dismal quiet of the afternoon. Elena was the only one to offer a response, blinking at her as if she had not heard and asking if there was any more cheese (there was not). She did manage to dig up another sausage link buried beneath a couple of mushy apples she fed to the donkey, and offered that instead, but Elena wrinkled her nose and said it smelled funny while Nate complained that last night's dinner had been too greasy. It was the most they had said in days, even if they still weren't saying anything directly to each other. "Suit yourselves, then. More for me," Chloe opined around her first mouthful.

Less than an hour after her last, she was on her hands and knees puking her guts out as the donkey watched with pricked ears and Elena did her the unexpected kindness of keeping her hair out of the way. Of course Nate was no help, queasily turning aside and walking out of earshot at the first sign of sickness, but his weak stomach rather than rudeness was to blame for that. Foreign food had a similarly debilitating effect on him (their last trip to South America had left him in actual tears, crying on a hotel toilet while she and Elena fought over the food that had landed him there), and Chloe felt sorry for his wife should she ever become pregnant since he would be next to useless when it came to morning sickness. Then again, she supposed that duty would likely fall to her in such an event, which had her feeling even more nauseous. Nate still looked somewhat sour upon rejoining them. Elena had found her some water to rinse her mouth out with and he flinched at every cough, swish and spit, which would have been funny if her stomach hadn't been too sore for laughter.

The sun set at their backs as the forest floor inclined ever upward and gave way to rolling landscape broken by bedrock, forcing them to pick their way carefully to avoid slipping on hidden stones between the trees. The only one who handled the rough terrain without issue was the donkey; lacking the extra set of legs it was somewhat more demanding for the rest of them. They had to keep going long past moonrise just to find a decent spot to camp and by the time shelter presented itself in a jagged jut of granite they were practically dead on their feet. Even this far from the ruins, with the leaders dead and most of their followers as well, there was still risk of attack and they were not about to sleep out in the open and get caught in a firefight without any cover. Nate was out like a light as soon as they stopped and Chloe curled up beside him at the base of the rock, too exhausted to care what his wife thought of that, but she was tending to the donkey and hardly seemed to notice their sleeping arrangements.

Forgoing the bedroll and sleeping on her paddle holster after neglecting to take the damn thing off made her back pay the price later as she woke to Elena's gentle prodding achy, stiff, and oddly enough, shivering. Either she had been so overheated from the arduous uphill trek to notice before, or the temperature had dropped significantly as she slept. The moon peeked shyly out from behind a humid haze of clouds and in dismay she wondered if it would rain just to put the finishing touches on how much everything sucked at the moment. Elena had the blankets all to herself, waiting for Chloe to get on her feet before getting settled, and likewise Chloe waited for her to fall asleep before swiping her phone from where she had put it near her pistol. The owner of the gray backpack had owned a cell made by the same manufacturer, judging from the matching charger and wired headset she had discovered in a side pocket, so Chloe spent part of her watch thumbing through Elena's media files (most of the artists she either didn't recognize or didn't care for), huddled in her green hoodie against the damp. Just before the battery died she was overcome by a wave of residual nausea due to all the bad music, or bad meat lingering in her system, or possibly both. To try and settle her stomach she paced around their rock and drank some water, which she wasn't able to keep down long. She felt strangely hungry afterward, though getting sick a second time had given her a bad migraine and she woke Nate with her head pounding and her ass numb from sitting to match her bruised back and upset stomach.

She felt much better in the morning, and apparently so did Nathan. Sometime during the night he seemed to have decided that the best way to handle the entire argument was to pretend that it had not even happened in the first place, an awful strategy when it came to fighting with a determined female and made even worse since Elena took determined to a whole new level. Chloe would have told him so, had he asked (he hadn't). He was nice enough to let them sleep past sunrise and wake on their own to a varied breakfast scavenged from the immediate area as well as the packsaddle (the wild strawberries were a nice touch), cinching up the donkey and even taking the lead rope himself for a change. Chloe suspected that had less to do with chivalry and more with placing himself in the middle of their little procession, which was fine by her.

Last night's gloomy gray cloud cover stayed with them as they walked, mirroring Elena's surly attitude, and after his attempts to engage her in conversation were embraced with all the warmth of a Russian winter his mood curdled to match. He had tried asking if she was still hungry, had she gotten enough sleep, tried taking her hand as they walked, and all of it only seemed to work against him. Finally he blustered that he didn't want to fight anymore. Neither did she, Elena insisted, did he think she liked feeling like this? Nate spat out his retort before Chloe could advise elsewise or attempt distraction by expressing relief at the lack of rain: "Sure seems like it, if not then maybe you should quit fucking arguing with me so much!"

"Maybe I would if you weren't such a stupid jackass!" Elena made up for all her impenetrable quiet in a single moment of fury, gesturing wildly at their pack animal, "I can't even tell you apart from the one with long ears and a tail!" The jackass in question tossed his head nervously at the outburst, planting all four hooves and refusing to cooperate when Nate tried to stomp off and drag him along. After a brief and very futile tug-of-war that teetered on the edge between comical and pitiful he glared at his wife as if this was somehow her fault and then threw down the rope, abandoning the animal entirely to walk off his anger unhindered. Chloe had to jog uphill to reclaim their supplies before they could go loping away into the wilderness.

She let Nate get some distance on them for the good of everyone involved, following slowly enough for the donkey to be complacent and for Elena to catch up at her own pace. Surely after that she would have something to say, some exasperation at the mindlessness of her husband and men in general. Instead she had shut down again. All of the ferocity of a moment ago was gone and in its place a brooding silence, and where a lesser woman might have lost herself in tears by now Chloe knew Mrs. Drake was too proud for all that. However guarded she might be with her innermost emotions, they were not normally the type of couple to keep their disagreements private and put on false pretenses for the benefit of those around them, and especially not in front of her… which was actually kind of refreshing. When you've been to the ends of the earth with someone, seen them at their absolute best and at their worst, and grown comfortable enough to trust them with your very life, you were definitely comfortable enough to fight with your husband in front of them. She did wonder if they would still be giving each other the silent treatment had she not been here, imagining the two of them bitching and moaning the entire way east with no one around to hear but the donkey. _And any survivors out of the ruins_. A group of ugly, battle-hardened cultists swam into her imagination, thinking to surprise the nonbelievers fighting among themselves only to have their faces shot off and the argument resume over their bodies with barely a missed beat, and she had to check herself when Elena wanted to know what the hell was so funny. Chloe was proud of the answer she came up with on the fly. "I don't know how you do it, to be honest I could never put up with Nate's nonsense for long." It was meant in earnest but taken as an insult, if the dirty look she got in return was any indication.

The rising ground fell away sharply and this time there was no decent shelter to be had, only a steep windswept grade, far cooler on this side than it had been on the ascent, stones and broken boulders poking up through the tall grass like the backs of whales breaking the surface of the ocean. In the valley below was a field of wildflowers, black specks on a gray grass canvas, and in the center the rippling reflections of moonlight on a pair of lakes, the largest of which had a splash of color in the center that could only be Sully's seaplane listing to one side like a drunk (he had been complaining of a bad pontoon for weeks). With him below and a clear line of sight in every other direction it was safe enough to stop for the night once they found a relatively flat side of the slope. Nate relieved the donkey of the packsaddle before hobbling him to graze in their company for the last time. Tomorrow they would leave this place behind for good, and him to his wild brethren. While he was tending to the animal she revealed to Elena a chocolate bar she had found earlier, and although she didn't have much to say to that, she was quick enough to speak up when Chloe dropped the bedroll at her feet and advised getting some rest.

"I've got first watch," she insisted, scowling at Nate as he nonchalantly unrolled the foam pad in the grass beside her. She spared a more affronted look for Chloe. _Traitor_, her eyes seemed to say.

Despite that she was determined not to let Elena win. She was sick of the nonstop grouchiness and especially sick of being nice enough to keep taking second watch just so they didn't have to speak to one another overnight. The biting wind on this side of the slope meant she would have no trouble staying awake, and since the heat of anger was not a viable source of warmth ensured some interaction would have to occur unless one of them felt like risking pneumonia out of spite. "Not this time, Sunshine. I'm not even tired," she lied with her back to the worst of the wind, absently rubbing the tender spot where she had slept on her pistol the night before. "Chilly tonight, you'll want the covers." Her grin was met with a decidedly less cheerful expression, but she was used to that by now.

For once Elena did not argue her point out loud. She protested by finishing most of her chocolate and the rest of the raisins, and staying up long enough to take apart and wipe down her Beretta with the back of one sleeve, putting the gun back together methodically and much slower than necessary as Chloe waited her out. Still, this being her only objection probably meant she was just as sick of arguing as everyone else. Finally she took off her belt and holster, and frowned unhappily at her phone when it wouldn't turn on.

"Oh, right… I borrowed that last night, sorry. Found you a spare headset, though." She pulled it out of her front pocket and dangled it so Elena could see. It was an exercise in self-control to not laugh at the glare she was getting over the unlit screen, but Chloe managed to maintain an apologetic smile instead. "Your music sucks, by the way. When we get back I'll lend you some of mine."

Elena rolled her eyes at the friendly proposition before swallowing her pride and unenthusiastically crawling under the blankets with her husband. "Let me in. C'mon, move over," she growled, poking him so he would give her space. Once they were firmly ensconced in each other's arms, sharing anger and resentment as well as necessary body heat, she complained, "That had better be your belt buckle."

_Oh, don't worry- it is_, Chloe expected him to say snidely, relieved when he proved wise enough to keep his mouth shut. His chin rested atop her head and she had her nose pressed into his collarbone, and even then they maintained the same bitter expression they had worn since the start of the fight. Elena's phone was dead and she could not speak for his but when Chloe turned hers on it still had a single battery bar remaining. The moon was plenty bright in lieu of a flash, and the photo of them resolutely frowning at each other with their eyes closed so funny she set it as her background wallpaper. She couldn't wait to show Sully tomorrow and share a good long laugh at the expense of their friends. Eventually they drifted off into separate dreams and all their tension was wiped away by the peace of sleep, leaving Elena slack and drooling against her husband's chest. They looked so disgustingly serene you wouldn't think there had ever been a fight in the first place, but she had the picture to prove it.

It was far too windy on the hillside for solo card games, and the night stretched on with nothing to entertain her aside from her imagination as she watched the grass dancing in the wind, flashing and shifting like waves on water. There was always the whiskey but it was better saved for breakfast, and she grinned to herself at the thought of all three of them stumbling drunk down the hill, taking turns at the bottle to toast everything they lacked in this place like real food and hygienic necessities (she was becoming increasingly aware of her own stink). When she lost interest in the sea of grass she stargazed through silvery clouds passing over the moon, and then a group of shadows gathering between the lakes made her grab for her weapon in alarm until she realized it was only a herd of wild donkeys. She watched them graze, drink from the lake and graze some more, and when it was about that time nudged Nate with the toe of her boot and took his place beside his wife, who was already shivering from the displaced body heat and movement of the blankets as he stretched and yawned and shrugged into his shoulder holster. The chill sticking to her clothes had Elena in a bad mood all over again until Chloe pulled her close and held on tight despite her objections, making sure to spoon her from behind to lower the risk of getting slobbered on in her sleep now that she knew Elena was a drooler. A fair amount of shameless cuddling soon had them both toasty warm, and she dozed off with her face buried in blonde hair.

And woke on the cold grassy hillside, freezing and alone. Chloe flailed in a moment of waking panic but the blankets were right behind her, and she had only rolled out from under them. She inched and scooted her way backwards until she felt the squish of the foam pad below and the weight of soft layers above, with Elena pressed snugly against her ass. By now it might have been Nate back there, but she had no idea how long she had been out. They were awake with her whoever it was, and wriggling restlessly.

She was about to roll over and snuggle up to get good and warm again, hoping for Elena since she tended to be more agreeable than her husband beneath the covers, but something made her hesitate. That wriggling was more rhythmic than restless, and when she held her breath to listen the sounds of sex were unmistakable. They were trying to be secretive about it but there was no other explanation for those noises, or that smell. _Really? Not exactly the interaction I had in mind, but at least they__'__re back on speaking terms, I suppose. _She wondered who had apologized first, decided it was him, then wondered why she even cared and finally figured that all that time spent pretending to be deaf had been in preparation for this very moment. When Elena's sudden outpouring of religious enthusiasm indicated an impending orgasm and he tried to hush the stream of _ohgodohgodohgods_ Chloe was sorely tempted to sit up and tell them not to stifle their passion on her account, by all means carry on and would they like her to bring them a towel and a cigarette afterwards? Well, maybe she didn't have it in her to be quite _that_ cruel.

"You two are awful, I can't wait to shove you both in the lake tomorrow when you least expect it," she muttered after they had finished and separated, one to keep watch and the other back to bed with her. Nearby their donkey _hawed_ and she heard Elena's answering _shhh,_ meaning it was Nate there with her. He reeked of sex and sweat, so that crack about the lake was only half a joke. "And with me right here and everything, you know you could tell me to go take a walk or whatever. Got my back all wet, too, that's nice."

"Oh, we did not." He touched her to make sure anyway, and wondered through a satisfied sigh if she would have taken a walk if asked.

She thought about it. "Nah."


End file.
